Coming Home
by wolfypuppypiles
Summary: Lance adjusted his grip on his cane, fist clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. Keith stood beside him and waited as Lance refused to move forward. After six years, away, he was finally home.


Lance adjusted his grip on his cane, fist clenching so hard his knuckles turned white. Keith stood beside him and waited as Lance refused to move forward. After six years, away, he was finally home.

His house looked just the same and he could hear voices from inside, some he recognized, and some he didn't. His chest ached with how badly he wanted to see his family again, but it had been six years and everything was different.

"What do I tell them?"

Keith placed a comforting hand on his husband's waist.

"I don't know. We can stick to the story the garrison gave us. We were sent out on an urgent mission and went missing. We lost all communications with command but completed our mission and came home. All other details are classified. No mention of aliens or going off planet. We were all pilots."

Lance nodded. Once they had defeated Zarkon and saved the universe they'd finally returned home, but had gotten strict instructions from the garrison to keep all details quiet. No one could know about aliens or the fact that earth was almost destroyed.

Lance nodded, swallowing his anxiety as he smoothed his Garrison uniform.

"Okay." He took Keith's hand, squeezing it tight as he lifted his cane with the other, dragging his bad leg with him as they approached the door.

Keith looked at Lance one more time, silently asking if he was ready. Lance nodded and Keith knocked.

A happy voice called out from inside. "Coming!" The woman had a thick accent and Keith heard Lance's breath hitch. Then the door opened and there was his mother. The familiar warm eyes and round face, that smile that Lance had known since birth melting into shock.

She stared at her son, hands coming forward to reach for him as she whispered in awe.

"Lance? ¿Eres tú?"

 _Is that you?_

Lance could barely see through his tears. He choked on a sob as he nodded.

"Sí mamá. Soy yo, estoy en casa."

 _Yes mama. It's me, I'm home_

The woman flung herself into Lance's arms and Lance hugged her back fiercely. Keith let go of his hand to take his waist instead, holding him up so that he could use both arms to hug his mother, leaving his cane waiting by his side.

Keith felt his chest growing tight, watching his husband finally reunite with the family he had missed for so long. Lance and his mother were crying loudly and she finally released him to take his face in her hands.

He had grown up since she last saw him and it showed. His jaw was stronger as were the set of his shoulders and he'd put on muscle which was evident in his lean frame. The woman traced a thumb over his skin, meeting the roughness of his stubble.

She spoke English now, her thick accent still wobbly with emotion. "My heart has been broken for six long years and you're finally home. Dios, you're so big and- oh, what have they done to you?"

She looked down at his hand now back on his cane, his other clutching her arm. He looked down at his bad leg. The scars were covered by his clothes, and he was glad she didn't have to see them.

"I'm a little broken, Mama. But I won't ever leave again. I promise."

Her face crumpled once more and she took her son in her arms. When she let go she wiped her eyes and finally looked at Keith, seeming to only just notice his presence.

"Hijo, who's this?" Keith looked to Lance, his husband raising his eyebrow just a little, in question. Keith nodded and Lance gave a small smile in return. It might be a little too soon to spring the whole 'I'm married to a man' thing after just coming home.

Lance wiped his face with a shaky hand as he introduced him.

"This is Keith, he was with me on our mission for the last six years. He's saved my life more times than I can count."

Lance's mother smiled and threw her arms around a surprised Keith.

"Thank you for bringing my son home."

Keith brought his arms up to hug her back. Lance was right, her hugs were amazing.

"You're welcome, Mrs McLain."

"Call me Maria."

She let him go and took Lance's hand again, beaming at him as she pulled them both inside.

"You have to see everyone and-Oh, I'll have to call your father. He'll be so happy to see you. Come inside, I'll find everyone."

Lance limped into the house, Keith beside him as they came to a stop at a small table in the living room. Lance looked down at it, eyebrows furrowed as he touched the picture frame resting there. It was a shrine. For him.

Photographs and candles were placed on a white cloth, wilted flowers dropping petals onto the floor.

Lance's mother put a hand on his shoulder.

"They told us you were dead. That garrison said you went missing with some others and they couldn't recover your bodies. I mourned my baby, we all did. I lit a candle for you every day, mi hijo. Everyday. You have to tell me what happened, but first you need to see everyone."

Lance nodded and watched her run through the house, calling for the rest of the family.

Keith looked down at the shrine and felt a longing he hadn't felt in years. They were finally free from Zarkons rule and he had no family to go home to. Team Voltron was his family. No one would have even noticed he was missing. No one mourned him.

His thoughts were broken by Lance's quiet voice.

"I'm glad you're here with me. I don't think I could have done this on my own."

Keith smiled at him. Lance always knew what to say. He smiled at his favourite idiot and took his hand to kiss his knuckles.

"Your mum's nice."

Lance nodded and let out a small laugh.

"I guess she's your mother in law now."

Keith didn't have time to properly absorb that information before the room was full of people. Lance's siblings and nephews and nieces all crowding in and demanding to hug him.

Lance hugged each one, crying again as they all remarked at how much had changed. Lance's family was much bigger than it was when he left and a small group of children crowded around his legs for hugs with their tio Lance. Maria fret over her returned son, asking everyone to be careful with him.

Keith usually would have felt awkward or left out in this situation but he knew how much it meant to Lance so he held his waist to keep him standing through all the hugs. He was a part of this giant family now and the thought was immense and welcome. Lance had told him about everyone. His older sister Sofia and his big brother Tomas as well as the youngest twins Dante and Mateo.

Tomas held his little brother by the shoulders as he looked him up and down, eyes full of tears.

"They told us you died. We had a funeral. We buried an empty coffin and they paid Ma and Dad to be quiet about it and sent us a shitty flag. What the hell happened? Why were you gone so long?"

Lance felt sick at the thought of some garrison official coming to his door to tell his parents he'd died. His family mourned him for six years and he was finally back and he couldn't even tell them the truth.

"I'll explain everything when dad gets home."

Ten minutes later the door swung open and Lance's father stepped through. He froze in the doorway at the sight of his formally dead son in the middle of the room. Lance took his cane and limped over to him, standing up straight and raising his hand in a salute. His father didn't return the gesture, only surged towards him and scooped him into his arms.

"I can't believe it. You're home. My boy is back."

Lance hugged him back, eyes scrunched shut.

"I missed you all so much. I'm so sorry I didn't come back sooner."

Lance was released and his father slapped a hand on his back.

"Look at you. You've grown up. Come sit down, tell us everything."

Keith took Lance's arm again as he helped him limp to the kitchen where everyone took a seat at the table. Usually Lance was okay just using his cane but his bad leg was protesting all the excitement and he was grateful for the help that his husband provided.

Keith sat beside him at the table as everyone sat eagerly waiting an explanation.

Lance wasn't sure how to word everything. He didn't want to lie but he also needed to keep his family safe from the truth. They would already worry if he told them he had been fighting a war, telling them he fought a war in space, against aliens would be much worse and take a lot more explaining. So, he went with the story the garrison gave him.

"There was an attack on the garrison six years ago, and they needed people to fight. It's … the details are classified so I can't tell you where we were or who we were fighting but… we went to war. It was a small team, Keith was with me as well as a few others. We lost communication with the garrison early on and we couldn't make it back until the mission was over. I wanted to tell you, I wanted to come home so badly but…we couldn't."

Maria nodded and squeezed her husband's hand, smiling from where they sat beside Lance.

"You're home now. Everything is okay."

Tomas looked both horrified and amazed at the thought of his little brother being a soldier.

"You…fought in a war?"

Lance nodded, a small smile lighting his face.

"Yeah. It took a while but…we won."

Lance's father, Raphael, gestured to the cane sitting beside his son.

"And that's why…?" he wasn't sure how to phrase it. Everyone in the room went quiet and Lance looked over at Keith before speaking.

"There was a mission about six months ago, it went badly. We were in enemy territory and completely outnumbered. The whole team was trapped with no means of escape and no back up coming."

He looked at Keith, sitting beside him with a sad frown.

"Keith still hasn't really forgiven me for what happened."

Everyone looked to the red paladin as he shook his head.

"Because it was the stupidest thing you've ever done." He looked out to the table to people awaiting the story and sighed.

"Lance decided that the only option was to surrender. So, he stood with his hands up and walked right over to the enemy. He made sure they thought he was the only one there, so that the rest of us wouldn't be caught."

Lance watched Keith talk, hating the sad tone, and idly massaged his bad leg.

"We had one grenade, made from scrap by our mechanic, and the plan was to throw it into the tunnel with the soldiers. But it went south quickly and Lance couldn't get out in time. He blew it up while still inside."

There was a chorus of gasps as Lance looked embarrassed and Maria reached out to smack Lance on the shoulder, gripping his arm in her hands in worry.

"No, Hijo! ¿por qué harías eso?"

 _No, son! Why would you do that?_

Lance patted his mother's hand as she squeezed his shoulder.

"I'm fine, Ma, calm down."

She smacked at his arm again, face pinched in worry as if she didn't know if he made it out of the explosion alive or not.

"No, no eres. Now shh and let me hear Keith."

 _No, you aren't._

Keith took a breath as he looked at Lance. That mission had been so bad. He had never been so afraid in his life.

"The enemy were all dead but Lance was trapped under there with them. It took two days to dig him out and it was touch and go for a while. We weren't sure if he was going to make it and even after that we weren't sure if we would be able to save his leg. It had been crushed under the rubble and we had a really good medic and he did all he could but... some of the nerves couldn't be fixed."

Lance rubbed Keith's shoulder, remembering how horrible those few weeks were after the accident. Keith hadn't left his side and it had been a tough recovery period for everyone.

Keith swallowed and kept talking, looking at Maria and Raphael.

"It took four weeks for him to heal and walk again but he'll always need the cane. The damage is irreversible. I'm sorry."

Everyone wore the same look of grief and shock on their faces but Lance took Keith's hand and leant forward to kiss his sad mouth.

"Hey, I'm okay. I'm here, everything's fine."

Keith was very aware that Lance had just kissed him in front of his entire family and kept his face low as everyone looked at their joined hands and noticed the matching wedding bands.

Sofia spoke first, her husband sitting with her as her children played at her feet.

"Are you two...?"

Lance looked at Keith and smiled, squeezing his hand in pride. Truthfully, he wasn't sure how his family would react but he loved Keith more than anything and while he couldn't be truthful about where they'd been he could tell them about this.

"Keith and I are married."

He held Keith's gaze long enough to see the love and happiness in his eyes at the words, before turning to his family. Thankfully they were smiling.

Maria threw her hands up and reached for the two men.

"Mi hijo es casado! Oh, mis hijos, qué feliz estoy!"

 _My son is married! Oh, my boys, I'm so happy!_

More hugs were exchanged, this time with Keith included, and everyone was asking questions again.

"How did you guys meet?"

"When did you get married?"

"How did you have a wedding in the middle of a war?"

Lance was beaming as he answered them and Keith watched his husband's eyes light up.

"I knew him at the garrison but we didn't really meet properly until we got sent on the mission together. We didn't really get along at first-"

Keith laughed and interrupted.

"No, you didn't like me. I was apathetic towards you until you pissed me off."

Lance waved a hand.

"Yeah whatever, we weren't that close at first but traveling around and fighting battles with only the same six people to keep you company makes for fast forming friendships. Keith and I ended up getting close and I realized I liked his dumb mullet head for some reason."

Everyone looked a little confused at the mention of a mullet since Keith's hair had grown out and was more shoulder length now. He had it tied into a bun and Lance looped a finger into a strand of hair as if fell free, playing with it teasingly before Keith tucked it back behind his ear.

"Yeah, he used to have a mullet but he grew it out. It's like he's allergic to haircuts."

Keith laughed and bumped his shoulder against Lance's.

"And his lame pickup lines worked for some stupid reason and I couldn't stop thinking about him. He asked me out in the middle of a mission and we just ended up together. I'm not even really sure how it happened."

He looked at Lance with a smile, his voice wistful and happy. Sofia and Maria both aww'ed and Lance continued with the story.

"Keith helped me recover from the tunnel explosion and when I was mostly on my feet again he gave this long sappy speech and proposed. It was so cute."

He leant forward and rubbed his nose against Keith's, smiling like the idiot in love that he was. Keith picked up the story.

"It wasn't really a legal marriage since we couldn't sign any papers or anything with the whole 'no one knows we're alive' thing. But we went to a small village where they have a beautiful tradition. They mate for life in their culture so the ceremony was less, a legal commitment, and more a bonding of souls. They believe everyone has someone who's soul fits perfectly with theirs and for me that's Lance. I don't want anyone else."

Lance blushed and nodded. "It's a bond that can never be broken. Now that we're back we'll have to have another wedding here. One that legally makes us husbands." He turned to his parents as his thumb rubbed over the back of Keith's hand.

"Oh, I should probably tell you. I'm Lance Kogane now."

Keith pressed a kiss to Lance's cheek.

"My parents died when I was young and I don't have any other family so Lance offered to take my name so that my family can continue." The two men looked at each other, and everyone in the room could see how much they loved one another.

Maria looked as though she were about to cry.

"That's my sweet boy. I'm so proud of you."

Lance rolled his eyes as his mother fret over him, fixing his collar and rearranging his hair, truthfully, he loved it. He had missed his family so much and it was almost overwhelming to be home again.

Keith could see he was getting worn out from all the excitement and his bad leg was acting up.

"How about we give everyone some time to process everything. Lance could do with some rest and there's a lot for everyone to take in."

Everyone looked tired and Tomas nodded.

"Sure, I'll show you to the guest room."

Keith stood from the table and helped Lance stand, trying to ignore the way everyone watched. Lance winced but held in any noise of pain as he got to his feet, his bad leg weak and heavy as he hobbled with his cane. He tried to keep his back straight but it didn't make a difference to how obviously bad his limp was.

He swallowed his embarrassment and squeezed Keith's hand. He'd gotten used to it, they would too.

They were lead down a hall to a small room, Tomas excusing himself to collect their bags from the car. Keith helped Lance sit down on the bed and knelt to tug his shoes off.

"You okay?"

Keith nodded and got Lance settled in bed, taking his jacket and cane.

"Yeah, your family's nice. And I've always wanted to know where you grew up."

Lance took his husbands hand as he lay in bed, Keith sitting beside him.

"They're your family too now. It might be a lot to take in at first but they like you. I can tell."

Keith smiled and leant down for a kiss.

"Thanks. Now get some sleep."


End file.
